Had a chance to try the roof out in some nasty weather today.
It works fine except in a hail and rain storm. The hail was bouncing off the
shell and being blown onto me. I just wiped them off me when they landed but
it did illustrate that it was possible to get wet in these conditions. Still
way better than being plummelled without the protection of the velomobile. The
more annoying part of the experience was that before long there was a couple
inch accummulation of this slushy stuff on the road which slowed me down considerably.
I ended up shifting down three gears making for a slower trip than normal.

November 15, 2006

"It was a dark and stormy night." Well it did not quite
start out like this in the morning. On the ride into work it rained/poured in
varing amounts. At one point just before I crested a little hill it was coming
down so hard that the horizon line of the hill was absured be the water bouncing
off the road. It looked like snow about 4" deep. Would have made a great
photo. During the day the wind picked up with gusts to about 70 kph. We decided
not to bag any parts as the power could go out at any time. This turned out
to be an unnecessay precaution but the power did finally fail at about 8 pm.
I decided to try rdiing home even though it was still quite windy. It was a
fairly uneventfull ride as most of the way it was a tailwind. Even going fowards
at about 25kph you could feel the wind bellowing in the bottom of the Aurora
from behind. Only had one twitchy moment where the wind swirled around after
some parked trucks which made me slow down and be more careful. The rest of
the trip is sheltered from a southeasterly wind so it was uneventful except
for the detour around a blocked road with a powerline down. Then just a kilometer
from home another blocked road requiring a retreat. This detour was a bit more
tedious as it involved going back downhill and than back up a steeper route.
The night seemed darker than normal with lots of what seemed to be very bright
car lights. The fact that it was also raining and I had to ride unfamiliar roads
may be a factor. From this have have concluded that a more powerful head light
would be very welcome. At present the velomobile has a 20 watt 6 volt halogen.
Will be looking into the options available.

November 14, 2006

Perfect weather for a velomobile this morning, cool and raining.
Just a few degrees colder and it would have been snow. Tested the latest concept
and it seemed to work well. My helment got a bit wet with a few small drops
on my glasses. It was raining fairing hard for about 20 minutes and I stayed
dry apart from the drops on the glasses. Even if I continued for an hour I would
have only have to wipe the droplets off the glasses once or twice. The roof
could be a bit wider over the head opening so water drops falling off the edge
of the roof fall a bit further from the opening. The other way to address this
would be to have a slight rim on the edge of the roof so they just drain off
in one place. The drops that fell on the shell around the opening drained off
to the outside as there is a slope to the shell. A few drops puddled in front
of the opening but they stayed in front of the lip at the front of the head
opening. Will use it in the rain a bit more before making any changes.

A couple of pictures of the front vent tube and the cover for
the vent hole in the bulkhead. Probably ony have to cover the vents in the bulkhead
when it gets below freezing. The covers are easy to install using the opening
for the front wheel. They are held on by velcro.

A view of the bottom of the velomobile with the chain covers in
place. They are held on with velcro so they are easy to remove without using
tools. The hole for the front vent still needs to be cut.

November 12,
2006

Have tried out the roof with a window in it. Much nicer view and
its does not feel as closed in anymore so much so that I might leave the roof
on all the time. The view under the roof foward is only slightly less than that
with the visor on my helmet. Tried a couple of different things to deflect the
rain drops that get blown in but do not have the best solution yet. I will finish
up the latest idea tomorrow and try it out in the rain as its probably going
to rain most of the next week.

October 15, 2006

As its been very dry here for the last three months so there has not been
the need for a cover to fend off the rain. I am sure that this is about the
change so I have been working on a roof for the Aurora. Made some progress so
far but it looks like the roof will need to have a clear window in it to work
well. It just feels a bit claustrophobic being solid. Just tried it in the rain
with the front bit cut off and replaced by some lexan. It was a short test as
the front lexan insert flapped around madly once you got to a reasonable speed.
l have started another roof as I anticipated this happening so will now try
supporting the lexan at the front edge with the composite laminate.

First mock up after
making the basic shape

Solid roof mounted on
3" pins

Unsuccessful attempt
at adding lexan front

From the short test it appears that the idea has merit. The front of the roof
may need to be lowered a bit and or a clear wind/spray deflector added under
the roof just before the cutout in the door. The roof tends to funnel a bit
more air into your face so this mgiht be good on hot days. An additional benefit
on hot days might be that you are in the shade to whole time.